


dark on me

by BirdMonster



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, M/M, Post-Time Skip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:55:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28905216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BirdMonster/pseuds/BirdMonster
Summary: Cyril and Ashe meet again during the war.
Relationships: Cyril/Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert
Comments: 7
Kudos: 14





	dark on me

“Do you remember when we met?” Ashe asked. There was laughter in his tone, an amused glint in his eye. Cyril didn’t laugh, but he nodded. “You wanted nothing to do with me. It’s funny thinking about it now.”

Ashe’s head was on Cyril’s lap. He looked relaxed and Cyril did his best to keep him so, running gentle fingers through his hair as he talked. His other hand was intertwined with Ashe’s— it wasn’t a tight grip, but it was a comfortable one.

“I don’t think you even remembered me,” Ashe continued. “Like I was the dozenth person to bother you that day. I kept bothering you, though.”

“Yeah… ‘N I remembered ya after that ‘cause you were so damn  _ annoying _ ,” Cyril said. “Lotsa people try ‘n help me, but you were so insistent. And then I couldn’t stop thinkin’ about ya…”

Ashe chuckled and his eyelids fluttered closed. Cyril’s heart rate climbed. The grip the other had on his fingers tightened just a bit, though, and Cyril was able to catch his breath.

“You had a crush on me. How cute…” Ashe was silent for a moment. Cyril found himself staring at the other’s chest, watching the way his ribcage rose and fell with every breath. He watched it so closely he could have memorized those movements— played them over and over again in his mind for years. Maybe he would. “I knew. It took me awhile to catch on, but… I figured it out eventually. Of course, I just thought it was wishful thinking at first.”

Cyril’s eyes moved to Ashe’s lips. He wanted to memorize those, too. The way they moved, the way they sounded. He wanted to kiss them, but he didn’t. 

“I was going to ask you to the ball, you know. But I got too scared… That sounds silly now, right? Everything we’ve been through and my biggest fear back then was asking my best friend to a party.” Another laugh.

“The ball… I always hated it. I would’ve gone with ya, though.”

“I wish you did. I made a fool out of myself… would’ve been nice to have someone else around who couldn’t dance.”

“Hey…” Cyril pulled his hand from where their fingers lay together, moving it towards Ashe’s face. Maybe he would have pinched Ashe’s nose at a comment like that. He didn’t, though. He just brushed his thumb along the other’s cheek, gentle and longing. “So rude.”

“Well, it’s true.” Ashe’s eyes opened back up. “It would’ve been nice to kiss you, too. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to kiss you.”

“Wanna find out?”

“Yeah.”

So then he did kiss Ashe. He leaned down until their lips touched, and then he pressed them closer. There was a metallic tang— it made Cyril’s eyes water. That taste, he knew, was something he would memorize.

When he pulled away, Ashe was smiling up at him. “You’re very gentle, Cyril. It’s nice…” Cyril didn’t smile back. His hand fell away from Ashe’s face, landing instead a few inches down where the symbol of the Adrestian Empire had been embellished on the other’s armor. “Your partner will be so lucky—”

“Stop,” even with just the one word, Cyril’s voice broke. His eyes burned. Every part of him burned, really. Yet somehow, his heart was cold.

There was a pause. And then, “I’m sorry.” Shaky fingers were on Cyril’s jaw, then, and he jolted. “I’m sorry, Cyril, I… I didn’t want our next meeting to be like this.”

“It didn’t have to be.” Cyril struggled to keep his voice even. “You didn’t have to leave.”

“I know.” Ashe’s thumb swiped away a drop from Cyril’s cheek before his arm fell. “You don’t have to forgive me, Cyril. I won’t ask that of you… but if I can be selfish for just a moment… I really want you to be happy. It’s hard right now… but someday.”

Cyril grit his teeth, gathering himself before answering. “I don’t even know what that’s like, Ashe.”

The other smiled again and his eyes fell back shut. “Find out for both of us, okay?”

“But I want ya to be there. I want both of us to be…  _ both _ of us.” Cyril moved his hand back to Ashe’s. He waited for an answer, but it never came. “... Ashe?” He looked the other over. He remembered the movement of his ribcage as he breathed, the way his lips formed every word he spoke. But they were still. He wished he had more time to memorize them. He wished he didn’t have to memorize them at all.

Amongst the heat of magma, it was hard to tell sweat from tears. But there was no doubt the droplets fallen from his face could be drawn from anything but sadness. Emptiness, maybe— regret and despair.

The metallic tang stained his lips. He wondered if that taste would ever fade.


End file.
